Released: May 25th, 2007
Runtime: 2 hr. 45 min.
Ticket Price: $5.00 Early Matinee
Refreshments: Swedish Fish
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley & Johnny Depp
Director: Gore Verbinski
Rating: Worth a Rental – 
Synopsis: Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner join with former enemy Captain Barbossa to rescue Capt. Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker. Once the task is completed they head to a meeting of the pirate council and an ultimate face off against the East India Trading Company and Lord Beckett. Many ups and downs, betrayals and reversals take place along the journey, during which they have to deal with the crew of The Flying Dutchman and an infamous Chinese pirate. Ultimately, the pirate life may come to an end. Who will survive?
Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the third in the Pirates of the Caribbean
It makes you wonder if the production team was just doing their best Capt. Jack Sparrow impersonation? Did they have a plan or did they just make it up as they went along? Except, things usually work out for Capt. Jack. Not so much here. It is a bit better than the second one mind you, but not much.
Dean Man’s Chest left you sitting there wondering what was going on, wondering if you had missed something. It wasn’t you; it was the filmmakers that missed something, a cohesive plot. It was more a bunch of scenes strewn together to get you from the Pearl to the End.
Yet, At World’s End suffers from much of the same problem, just not quite as badly. It does seem to have a basic plot arc, but with all the twists, turns, betrayals and plethora of characters to keep up with, it is hard to tell.
The saving grace of the film is its special effects, which include a spectacular climactic battle scene and the few funny moments throughout. Without these, At World’s End would be almost completely unwatchable.
Great special effects allow you to stay in the moment within a movie even though you know what is happening is not real. Bad special effects reveal themselves to be fakes and pull you out of your suspension of disbelief. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End has great special effects, as did the previous two movies in the series. Whether it is the fish people pirates, a beached and dead Kraken or a ship sailing through the desolate sands of Davy Jones’ Locker, you are there in the moment.
On the comedic side of things, Capt. Jack Sparrow is still pretty good. Unfortunately for the movie, he doesn’t show up until well into it and when he does, there is plenty of him that tries to make up for it. Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones guitarist), who was Johnny Depp’s inspiration for the look and mannerisms of Capt. Jack, making an appearance in pirate gear, as Capt. Jack’s father Capt. Teague, was fun as well.
The final scene before the credits lends itself to the possibility of a fourth Pirates movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Water of Life. Yet, the final scene, which runs after the credits have finished, leaves you to believe that Turner and Swann wouldn’t be around for that adventure.
As a summer popcorn movie, it might be worth a matinee of some sort, if for nothing else, but to take in the spectacle of the special effects. Overall, you should probably wait for the rental. Maybe if you watched all three in a row, the last two might make more sense. Or better yet, just watch the first one again, as it was actually good.
What did you think of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End? Did it live up to the hype for you? Where would you rank it in the Pirates trilogy?
I’m puzzled by the fact that the three most difficult movies for me to understand (ever) are the ones that make up the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. I wouldn’t think three movies intended for the selct demographic of men and women from ages nine to ninety-three would be beyond my intellectual grasp, but there it is.
http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/reviews/2007/05/27/movie_review_pirates_of_the_caribbean_th
I am glad that it wasn’t just me. I really enjoyed the first one, but the second one, I just kept wondering when it was going to end or maybe to begin or something. I don’t know. With this one, everybody is trying to do something, sometimes the same thing, but always for a different reason. Ultimately, it felt like a lot of twists and turns for the sake of having a twist or a turn. I still think that maybe they need to be viewed straight through in one sitting and then maybe that would change things.
The first Pirates of the Caribbean was great, not too sure about the other two, tho the special effects were top notch… if they come out with a fourth will it maintain the quality of the first?